PSK31 and the new digital modes

Transcription

1 WEEKLY 2-METER NETS All nets listed are 8:00 PM local time Monday: W5YM University WeatherNet ( , no pl) Tuesday: Washington County ARES Net ( , 110.9) Wednesday: ARCUA Traffic Net ( , no pl) Thursday: ARKAN Traffic and Talk Net ( , 110.9) Check in and participate in local nets -- keep amateur radio active on the repeaters ARKAN MEETING Feb. 23, 2004 AGENDA Club members sign in for drawings Call meeting to order Acknowledge and welcome visitors Program PSK 31 by Bill Smith, K1ARK Business Meeting Reading of the minutes from January Treasurer s report Old Business ARKAN station construction Completion of SSC status Appointment of event chairs New Business Programs for second quarter Door prize drawings Meeting adjournment VE Testing To follow meeting NEXT MEETING Monday, March 22 Repeater operations is the subject of the next meeting. How they work, good operating proceedures and the future of 2m repeater usage. ARKAN meets at the Arkansas Air Museum at Fayetteville Municipal Field each fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m. Serving the Amateur Service Newsletter of the Amatuer Radio Klub of the Arkansas Northwest February 2004 PSK31 and the new digital modes The first of the new wave of computer-based sound card, PSK 31 has matured into one of the fastest accepted modes of communications. Traditionally thought of as a HF mode, PSK31 and its siblings can be -- and has been -- used on almost every frequency. Requiring less resources than many other digital modes, PSK31 is the operating mode of choice for difficult operating conditions. Bill Smith, K1ARK, presents an overview on the essential elements needed for PSK operation, where to find the necessary software, operation techniques and how you can easily incorporate PSK31 into your station. Pres Note Hello everyone, ARKAN is still picking up steam for This year is about teaching and learning new ham radio related skills and improving on the ones we already know. I encourage everyone to bring a friend to our meetings and participate in our Second Saturday Workshops each month. Field Day 2004 ideas are starting to take form for ARKAN and volunteers are needed to help out with this event. I expect a great Field Day this year and can hardly wait for the time to be here. I hope each of you share in my enthusiasm for the hobby and will pitch in on the club projects this year and have a great time doing so. I look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting February 23rd. 73, John, KD5NFX ARKAN on the web at:

2 ARKAN Newsletter -- Page Two PUBLIC SERVICE EVENTS CALENDAR The following organizations have asked for amateur radio operators to support their events. Please contact the persons listed. APRIL Ozark Challenge Apr This is another great opportunity to work in the Ozark National Forest. The challenge is a three-day endurance "adventure" relay. Operators are needed for shifts or for the entire weekend. CONTACT: Rusty, N5ZMW rustytwr@cox-internet.com Heart Walk TBA Each year the University club works with the American Heart Association to assist with communications. Date for the event is not set. CONTACT: Bill Smith k1ark@arrl.net JUNE AIRFEST 2003 June This is another great opportunity to work in CONTACT: Bill Smith k1ark@arrl.net AMATEUR RADIO EVENTS CALENDAR Keep in mind these events coming up. February Meeting Notes Event Chairs for 2004 President John Robinson has asked that the major events for the upcoming year have chairs who will direct the club's activities. Discussion is set as a topic under new business. Special Service Club status filed with the ARRL Based on input from members during the January meeting and others over the past few weeks, the club's application for SSC status has been finished and turned in to ARRL. The next step is to await the endorsement of our section manager. New Worked All Arkansas Net is rolling along To supplement the club's Worked All-Arkansas Award, a Worked All-Arkansas net on Saturday evenings on after the conclusion of the Razorback Phone Net is being called each week by Don Banta, K5DB. Your Radio Memories Do you remember how excited you were about that first DX contact? Or your 50th state? Or your first night on an active storm net? Share them with us for the monthly newsletter. your radio memories to newsletter editor Bill Smith for inclusion in upcoming issues. We have lots of newcomers to the hobby in the club, and they would benefit from your experiences. Swap and Trade added to net We are adding a new For Sale/Trade/Wanted portion of the Thursday night 2m net. People participating in the net can tell everyone listening about any radio related stuff they have to sale and trade, or if they are just looking for something. Prices cannot be discussed on the repeater and must be done off-line. Thursday net control, John Robinson, will keep track of who has, or wants what and their contact info so it can be given back out once advertised. MARCH Russellville Hamfest March 6 Arkansas River Valley AR Foundation Hughes Community Center CONTACT: Margaret Alexander Oklahoma Section Conv. March Green Country Hamfest Claremore, Okla., Expo Center. This is the second year the event has moved from Tulsa -- actually puts it a little closer to NWA. CONTACT: Merlin Griffin APRIL Fort Smith Hamfest April 3 Joplin (Mo) Hamfest April 9-10 Arkansas Radio April Emergency Service Hamfest Little Rock Expo Center CONTACT: James Blackmon MAY Dayton Hamvention May 18-20

3 ARKAN Newsletter -- Page Three YOUR ARRL EC REGION OFFICIALS District L DEC Bill Smith, K1ARK K1ARK@arrl.net Washington County EC Bill Smith, K1ARK K1ARK@arrl.net Washington County Assistant ECs Dan Pucket, K5FXB danp@uark.edu University of Arkansas liason Kevin Thornton, K5KVN K5KVN@arrl.net Overall operations Randy DuCharme, AD5GB AD5GB@arrl.net Digital coordinator Benton County EC Brad Clement, KJ5YD kj5yd@arrl.net Benton County Assistant ECs Mike Engelke, KD5DGT, Siloam Springs Bob Kendal, K5KBK, Digital coordinator Carroll County EC Marshall Turner, K0ADM mturner@mynewroads.com Madison County EC Currently vacant and seeking nominations UPDATE YOUR INFO A quick note to all Washington County ARES members: Please update your database info as soon as possible. Folks move, change jobs, change phone numbers (in particular cell phone numbers), upgrade licenses or equipment and we need to know. If you have had a change since you filled out your ARES form, please contact one of the members of our county ARES leadership team. The Weather Report W5YM University WeatherNet info from Bill Smith, K1ARK Storm Spotting Class for Washington County rescheduled Somehow it was appropriate that Washington County's storm spotter training session was rescheduled due to a strong forecast for winter weather on Feb. 4. The reset date is Wednesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. Same location as before -- the Old Engineering Building, Room 209, on the University of Arkansas campus. This is the same meeting hall as previous years, located next door to the Bell Engineering Center on Dickson Street. Parking is across the street in the lots surrounding the 747 Dickson Street Building -- the KUAF studios. Last year's meeting was very sparcely attended, in part because many people were anticipating the same presentation as the previous two seasons. What a surprise -- the all new program included some of the finest teaching tools for spotting rotation and relating weather to radar tracks that I've seen in a basic level setting. Needless to say, EVERYONE should make an effort to attend. While participation -- and NWS certification as a storm spotter -- is not required for working with the W5YM University WeatherNet, it is HIGHLY recommended. Net control, and in turn Tulsa NWS, will take the single report of a trained and certified spotter. Often, we will seek two reports to confirm the observation of an uncertified spotter. Tis the Season for Storm Spotting February always seems to bring us our first active net of the year. Are you storm ready? Have you made sure you have: -- Current copies of spotter guides -- Checked your fixed spotter positions (have trees grown up, or construction changed a view) -- Driven the backroads in your area to stay familiar -- Checked the batteries in HT's, GPS's, etc. -- Updated your contact info with ARES and with the regional SKYWARN website -- Made sure you can receive alerts in the event of a loss of power Time to Revise, Renew your ARES info While every issue I put the same reminder in to update your ARES info, for many of our members it has been over a year since they ve revised their paperwork. The main reason for the form is to give the EC a resource list both to contact volunteers and to make assignments. So, if you moved, got a new home phone, cell phone these are all reasons to fill out a new form. If you ve upgraded your equipment, your license, your skills another huge reason to make a new form. To further increase your chances of filling out the form -- it is attached to this month's newsletter again. Have you signed up for ARRL EC Level I? I can't stress how important the new on-line ARRL Emergency Communications course is to your future volunteer work. With the renewed grant funding for the course, it only adds to the importance to served agencies that you are a certified volunteer. All ARRL members who complete the course receive a full refund of the cost thanks to the underwriting grant. ARKAN address The club has a post office box to serve as the official address of the organization: ARKAN P.O. Box 9701 Fayetteville, AR 72703

4 ARKAN Newsletter -- Page Four AREA HF NETS Arkansas ARES Net Net Control: Dale Temple, W5RXU Weekly training net for ARES/RACES personnel. Anyone interested in emergency communications with HF privileges is encouraged to check in. Persons without HF are encouraged to monitor. Presentation from Sunday is repeated Monday. FREQ: (alt freq ) TIMES: Sunday morning, 7:00 local Monday evening, 7:00 local (following close of Razorback Net) Worked All-Arkansas Net Net Control: Don Banta, K5DB Weekly net for persons wishing to confirm and work counties for the club's Worked All- Arkansas Award. Follows the conclusion of the Razorback Net or 7 p.m. each Saturday until spring. FREQ: TIMES: Saturday evening; 7:00 p.m. (following close of Razorback Net) 7 DAYS A WEEK Razorback Phone Net FREQ: TIME: 6:30 p.m. local Ozark CW Net FREQ: TIME: 7:00 p.m. local ARKAN CALENDAR Take a look ahead at upcoming meeting dates and program topics MARCH Repeater Operations Mar. 22 APRIL Open Program Apr. 26 MAY Field Day May 24 JUNE Open Program June. 28 JULY Open Program July 26 February Program: PSK 31 and the new digital modes Bill Smith, K1ARK Phased Shift Keying, better known by the acronym PSK, quickly moved from the world of quirky experiment to world-wide acceptance over the past three years. Originally developed by a pair of European operators in Peter, G3PLX, and Pawel, SP9VRC, to allow HF operators in difficult contitions -- notably near the high northern latitudes -- obtain a reliable means of communication, PSK and its varients are edging closer to replacing the traditional keyboard modes of RTTY and packet for point-to-point communication. It is extremely bandwidth efficient -- a bandwidth equal to the baud rate thus 31Hz (and the moniker PSK31). The advent of inexpensive computers with advanced sound cards opened the door for PSK. The concept uses the ability of the computer to encode and decode shifts in the frequency phase to create a ASCII-based keyboard operations that could be transmitted as if they were voice. In practice, the mode has proven to be extremely robust, and but it is not a replacement for error-free modes like Pactor. It lends itself to compromised antennas and QRP. PSK Basic Equipment A computer, software and a sound interface are all that is required in addition to the transciever. The computer can be extremely modest -- one that is capable of running software in the Win9x class is sufficient. Almost all the software is shareware or freeware. The original program remains one of the most reliable -- DigiPan. There are numerous multi-mode software packages that can perform more than just PSK operations. If you are getting started, a goos place to go is the "official" PSK31 homepage at: Another valuable resource page is WM2U's page at: Finally, there is The audio produced by a computer sound card cannot run directly into the transceiver. Many companies have ready-made products -- West Mountain's RigBlaster series was among the first -- but the minimum transformers needed can also be constructed off the shelf from parts at Radio Shack. There are schematics for your own interface on the WM2U site. PSK Operation One of the most important considerations in running PSK is power level. More is not better. In fact, the best way to advertise your arrival as a new member of the group is through a huge bandwidth splattering, untuned 100w signal. Continued on page 6 CONTACTING YOUR BOARD MEMBERS John Robinson, KD5NFX President johnr83@alltel.net Bill Smith, K1ARK Vice President k1ark@arrl.net Mose Howard, KB5BV Treasurer kb5bv@arrl.net Ted Flynn, AD5ON Secretary ad5on@arrl.net Steve Barrington, N9NSO At-Large Board Member n9nso@arrl.net Kevin Thornton, K5KVN Past President k5kvn@arrl.net President John Robinson KD5NFX Doyle Road Winslow, AR H C johnr83@alltel.net Vice President/Newsletter Bill Smith K1ARK 3032 Strawberry Fayetteville, AR H W k1ark@arrl.net Treasurer Mose Howard KB5BV 1775 N. Hunters Ridge Fayetteville, AR H W-n/a kb5bv@arrl.net Secretary Ted Flynn AD5ON 1903 S. Finger Rd. Fayetteville, AR O C ad5on@arrl.neti

5 ARKAN Newsletter -- Page Five AREA 2 METER NETS MONDAY W5YM Unviersity WeatherNet Net Control: Bill Smith, K1ARK Weather spotter group for Washington County, Arkansas; Information for emergency communications. FREQ: (no tone) TIME: 8:00 PM local TUESDAY Washington County ARES Net Control: Ted Flynn, AD5ON Weekly instruction and meeting for members of Washington County ARES FREQ: (pl 110.9) TIME: 8:00 PM local WEDNESDAY W5YM Traffic Net Net Control: Rotational among students Weekly meeting for members of Amateur Radio Club of the University of Arkansas. Open to all licensed amateur operators FREQ: (no tone) TIME: 8:00 PM local THURSDAY ARKAN On the Air Net Control: John Robinson, KD5NFX. Weekly meeting for ARKAN and traffic handling. Followed each week by a trader net for local hams. FREQ: (pl 110.9) TIME: 8:00 PM local Benton County Radio Operators FREQ: TIME: 7:00 p.m. Thursdays Benton County ARES/RACES FREQ: TIME: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays TARC Triple T Net -- TARC System FREQ: Your nearby TARC linked repeater TIME: 9:00 p.m. Thursdays Amateur Radio Klub of the Arkansas Northwest Minutes of January 2003, meeting Arkansas Air Museum; Fayetteville, Ark. ARKAN President John Robinson, KD5NFX opened the business portion of the meeting with a review of the minutes and Treasurer s report for December On the minutes, Don Banta, K5DB made the motion to accept the minutes as published. Mike Oliver, N5UWX seconded the motion. The motion carried. On the Treasurer s report, John Robinson, KD5NFX made the motion to accept the Treasurer s report as published. Cindy Barrington, KCØJOD seconded the motion. The motion carried. Under old business, John announced that the Klub station vertical HF antenna is up and will have coax attached to it in the next couple of weeks. Bob Atkinson, KX5N mentioned he had some RG-8X available if needed for the station. John, KD5NFX reported that the ARRL Special Services Club paperwork was nearly complete. Bill Smith, K1ARK, who is coordinating the application said, there is one more element of the application to complete before submitting to ARRL. Upon approval by ARRL, ARKAN will be the second Special Services Club in the entire state of Arkansas! John, KD5NFX stated there were three major events this year, in which the Klub will be participating. They are the Drake Field Air Show, Field Day, and Jamboree On The Air. As such, he has asked for volunteers to chair one of these events. It was stressed that the person chairing a particular event was not responsible for doing everything. Rather, that person would be the point of contact for coordinating details surrounding the event. Two events have secured chairs. They are Steve Barrington, N9NSO for Field Day and Don Banta, K5DB for Jamboree On The Air. The only event left is the Drake Field Air Show in June. Anyone wishing to chair this event and who can meet with the Air Museum Committee on a monthly basis should contact John, KD5NFX. The programs for February and March will be PSK31 and (tentatively) Repeater Operations, respectively. John, KD5NFX solicited for ideas for the next three months. Steve, N9NSO will deliver a presentation on Field Day at the May meeting, so suggestions are still needed for April and June. No new business was presented. Due to extenuating circumstances, Klub QSL card design presentations were tabled till the February meeting. Drawings for the Klub mascot and door prize were held. Bill Smith, K1ARK was the lucky winner of the Klub mascot and Don Banta, K5DB was the lucky winner of the door prize...a handy plastic parts box with some basic tools. It was announced that due to the impending foul weather predicted for Wednesday evening (Feb. 4 th ), that the National Weather Service storm spotter s program is postponed till March 10 th. Don Banta, K5DB made the motion, with Mike Oliver, N5UWX making the second, that the meeting be adjourned. Respectfully submitted on behalf of Secretary Ted Flynn, AD5ON (who is TDY in Guatemala), Steve Barrington, N9NSO Amateur Radio Klub of the Arkansas Northwest Treasurer's Report No change from last month Balance Feb. 17 $ Thank, Mose

6 ARKAN Newsletter -- Page Six Almost all PSK work is done with 25 watts or less, particularly if gain antennas are used. Frequently, 5 watts into a quality beam is more than enough to do the job, and there is considerable QRP work on the PSK bands. PSK Procedures All the digital modes share common habits and syntax borrowed from the original digital mode -- CW. While PSK QSOs are far more conversational -- almost keyboard ragchew -- expect to see "K" at the end of the line, lots of Q signals, and other common CW abbreviations -- pse, SK. There are semistandard frequencies for each band: As you can see, PSK isn't limited to HF. Many of the HF operations creep the VFO up.10 to.15 to accommodate the bandwith of.31 for the waterfall display. News from the Arkansas Section Manager The subject for discussion on the Arkansas Section Net on February 4th was the new proposed licensing structure. As you have probably heard, the ARRL Board of Directors voted to propose that code be retained for the Extra Class license in spite of the fact that international agreement no longer required code for any kind of privileges. There would be a no-code entry level license, which would allow HF phone operation on some bands. You can read the entire proposal at It is my opinion that the FCC is determined to have an entry level, no code HF license, and the board was trying to retain some code requirement. Even so, it is not a sure thing that the FCC will go along. It is possible that code will be eliminated altogether. There are several petitions before the FCC having to do with code tests, and several would do away with the code test completely. Please send your comments to the FCC on any or all of these petitions, and also the ARRL petition when the FCC begins taking comments. Here are some of the comments expressed during the Section Net: This is a good compromise. I have no problem with it but the new Novices need a distinctive series of callsigns. I am for anything that will bring in new, young hams I am not totally opposed to it. I disagree with the amount of proposed spectrum. I am for it. It will get more operators on the air and will help emergency communication. We need to be good Elmers and put our best foot forward for the new operators. New hams learn by listening we must set a good exampl Others said they were for the proposal. No one spoke against it, but I know they are out there because I have heard from several, and they make some good points. It seemed that most people accepted the fact that times are changing and CW is not as prevalent as it once was. Also, it has been widely discussed about the change in international requirements and the fact that the FCC wanted to simplify the license structure and possibly eliminate code. I do not enjoy seeing code activity diminishing, but I hear fewer signals on the bands. The phone portions of the bands are not as crowded as they were years ago, either. We must put signals on the air if we are to retain our frequencies. Please send your comments to the FCC and express your opinion when the time comes so that we can make the most of the changes that are coming. KB5IRC, a teacher in Bismarck, reports that he got school administration approval for his Introduction to Amateur Radio class for the fall. Stony has applied for a Big Project grant from the ARRL and it is being considered. He says the kids are excited about amateur radio! The new president of the Fort Smith Area Amateur Radio Club is Jimmie Lowery, W5JNL. The Fort Smith club is getting ready for their hamfest on April 3. The repeater in Fort Smith is now connected to Echolink. Webmaster KB5FJX has added a new chat room for Arkansas hams to the web site. You can find a link to the chat room at the top of each page. ARRL Arkansas Section Section Manager: Robert D. Schaefer, W5RZ w5rz@arrl.org

7 ARKAN Newsletter -- Page Seven Amateur Radio Klub of the Arkansas Northwest Membership Application Personal Information: New Application Yearly Membership Renewal Application Applicants Name: Callsign: Class: Age: ARRL Member: YES NO ARES Member: YES NO Spouse's Name: Callsign: Class: Other household members holding licenses: Name: Callsign: Name: Callsign: Class: Class: Street Address: City: State: Zip Code: Home Phone: Work Phone: Cell Phone: Address: Personal Web Site: Membership in other organizations: Interests: VHF/UHF Y / N APRS Y / N Packet Y / N Satellite Y / N ATV Y / N Spe. Events Y / N ARES Y / N SKYWARN Y / N HF Y / N Phone Y / N CW Y / N Digital Modes: RTTY Y / N PSK31 Y / N Contesting Y / N Other Non-Amateur Interests: Please attach a copy of amateur radio license(s) for all those applying for membership. Dues are $20.00 for first club member and $5.00 for each additional family member. I acknowledge that I will follow all FCC rules and regulations as well as the by-laws of the Amateur Radio Klub of the Arkansas Northwest. Any infraction will result in immediate termination of membership in the club. Applicant Signature Date Sponsored by (Print) Signature Date Board of Directors Approval License attached: Y/N Dues Payment Attached: Y/N Amount of Payment: $ RECEIPT FOR ARKAN DUES Date: Received from: Callsign: Amount: $ For: Received By:

8 ARKAN Worked All-Arkansas Award Work Sheet To qualify for the Worked All-Arkansas Award, a station must have written verification of QSOs -- any band or mode -- with all 75 counties of the state of Arkansas. Please fill in the application sheet below, and return the completed application plus a $5.00 award certificate fee to: ARKAN, P.O. Box 9701, Fayetteville, AR, All applications must be verified and signed off by two current officers of a registered ARRL club, or by presentation of cards with form. If sending cards, please include return postage. COUNTY CALL TOWN BAND COUNTY CALL TOWN BAND ARKANSAS ASHLEY BAXTER BENTON BOONE BRADLEY CALHOUN CARROLL CHICOT CLARK CLAY CLEBURNE CLEVELAND COLUMBIA CONWAY CRAIGHEAD CRAWFORD CRITTENDEN CROSS DALLAS DESHA DREW FAULKNER FRANKLIN FULTON GARLAND GRANT GREENE HEMPSTEAD HOT SPRING HOWARD INDEPENDENCE IZARD JACKSON JEFFERSON JOHNSON LAFAYETTE LAWRENCE LEE LINCOLN LITTLE RIVER LOGAN LONOKE MADISON MARION MILLER MISSISSIPPI MONROE MONTGOMERY NEVADA NEWTON OUACHITA PERRY PHILLIPS PIKE POINSETT POLK POPE PRAIRIE PULASKI RANDOLPH ST. FRANCIS SALINE SCOTT SEARCY SEBASTIAN SEVIER SHARP STONE UNION VAN BUREN WASHINGTON WHITE WOODRUFF YELL I certify the contacts listed above as correct by visual inspection of the confirmed written QSOs, and I am a duly elected Ark. ARRL club officer. #1 PRINT NAME: CLUB: SIGNATURE: DATE: #2 PRINT NAME: CLUB: SIGNATURE: DATE:

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10 Amateur Radio Klub of the Arkansas Northwest Post Office Box 9701 Fayetteville, Ark